Various types of known impact tools have been designed to apply a striking force to an impacting head member having a particular configuration. These configurations are designed to perform various types of work such as breaking rocks, splitting wood, digging holes, or acting as a hammer for simply applying an impact force on a tool bit which in turn penetrates a workpiece or a work surface such as the earth.
This type of impact tool is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,475,041, 3,381,763, 3,050,095 and 3,568,657. All of these prior art impact tools have working heads rigidly mounted at one end of an elongated handle with the hammer element directly striking the working head. This type of prior art construction has obvious drawbacks. Not only are the welded portions of the elongated handle and the working head required to absorb much of the striking force but after each strike there is a large amount of recoil action on the hammer element. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,475,041, the working head is inserted within the elongated handle along a substantial distance and a retaining screw element maintains the working head in the elongated handle. This prior art construction requires an additional jacket element to receive the striking blows from the hammer and transfer the force to a working head. Further, it does not prevent the recoiling of the hammer element.
When the working impact head is hit directly by the hammer element of the prior art, the reactive forces developed cause the recoiling of the hammer member and/or causes the elongated handle of the impact tool to jump backwardly away from the workpiece. The disadvantages of this type of reaction is deemed clearly understood.